The hosts.xml file

The hosts.xml file is an XML file on the local client computer that contains the information about all available censhare application servers (hosts) and their connection parameters.

Introduction

A typical hosts.xml file entry looks like this:

XML

<host compressionlevel="3" url="frmis://customer.censhare.io:30546/corpus.RMIServerSSL" name="customer.censhare.io  - 2019.3.8" databasename="" authentication-method="" >
  <proxy use="0"/>
  <censhare-vfs use="1"/>
</host>

Find a full description of all parameters of the host.xml entries in Client-server communication customization.

You can edit hosts.xml file in two ways:

Open the file in a Text editor or XML editor. There is no DTD for validation, so special care is required to keep the file valid. The hosts.xml file can be found in the local censhare preferences folder, in the release subfolder. The location depends on the operating system.
in the censhare clients, under the Server preferences menu

If you use the hosts.xml file to store access data for a large collection of hosts or groups of hosts, you can visualize these by dividing them with a dummy host entry which creates a separator line:

XML

<host name="-------------------------" url="//separator/corpus.RMIServer" compressionlevel="0" authentication-method="">

<proxy use="0"/>

</host>

You must make these adjustments directly in the hosts.xml file, as the entries cannot be reordered within the user interface dialog of the Server Preferences menu of the censhare clients.

The hosts.xml file can be created once and then distributed among all client computers if desired.

Don´t forget to keep your XML well formed:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
  <hosts>
…
 </hosts>
</root>

Disabling the trust manager

It is also possible to disable SSL verification when using self-signed certificates on the RMI server by adding the following to the host line:

XML

<host ... disable-trust-manager="false" ... >
...
</host>

However, please note that censhare advises against disabling the Java client trust manager. Doing so would expose the user to security risks, such as MITM (man-in-the-middle) attacks. In case there is a business justification in doing so, this means the customer would have to accept this risk themselves.

hosts.xml with Keycloak and without it

If you use Keycloak, your hosts.xml should look like this:

XML

<host compressionlevel="0" url="frmis://[your.domain]:30546/corpus.RMIServerSSL" name="Demoserver keycloak" authentication-method="external" disable-trust-manager="true">      
<proxy use="0"/>      
<censhare-vfs use="1"/>    
</host>

Without Keycloak (for pre-WP censhare versions):

XML

<host compressionlevel="0" url="frmis://[your.domain]:30546/corpus.RMIServerSSL" name="Demoserver internal" authentication-method="" disable-trust-manager="true">
    <proxy use="0"/>
    <censhare-vfs use="1"/>
</host>